Story & Photos by Patrick P. Tulfo
ADMIT it, during your pre-puberty years you once relished the thought of being trapped inside a department store’s toy section or, better yet, inside Lil’s hobby shop, the country’s oldest and official distributor of Tamiya Toys and models in the country.
Most of us own or may have previously owned a Tamiya model kit or even a radio control model of this highly popular plastic toy from Japan. But how many of you are aware that since 1994, Tamiya has been making its popular models right here in our backyard, specifically in Cebu.
That’s why when the invitation was sent out for the first-ever media tour on its sprawling 40,000-square-meter plant, which is inside the Mactan Export Processing Zone 2, almost everyone covering the motoring beat grabbed the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and joined—ditching even the opportunity to test-drive a very popular sports car held inside Clark at the same time.
So, on March 16, familiar faces in the motoring biz took an early flight to Cebu for the chance to personally see how this popular toys and models are made.
Since we have arrived earlier than the appointed time, we killed time by having lunch with Robertson Sy, the gracious owner of the fastest-growing auto accessories shop in the country—Blade. Sy was also partly responsible for the tour, together with Justin Uy of Hobbes and Landes, and Shakespeare Chan, owner of Lil’s Hobby Shop who prefers to be called “Uncle Shakes”.
Funny how a model/toymaker like Tamiya could turn full grown men into bubbly children. As soon as we entered the factory’s glass door, we were greeted with displays of Tamiya classics that ranges from cars, motorcycles, tanks and planes.
A short video presentation about the process on how a Tamiya model is made was shown. This was followed by a short question-and-answer with no less than Tamiya’s Go Tsuboi, senior vice president, and Hironori Hane, assistant general manager for International Division, presiding.
Some interesting facts that we’ve learned about Tamiya during the presentation included: Payment of a royalty for every model sold to the manufacturer aside from payment for the rights to manufacture the model in the first place.
Formula One cars models are the most expensive models in their lineup in terms of royalty and rights payment. This is the chief reason they discontinued it temporarily.
All toys/models that came from their plant in Cebu are exported to Japan, where it is distributed to all Tamiya outlets worldwide, including the Philippines.
Ninety percent of the company’s entire lineup are produced here in our country. The plant tour was an eye-opener for all of us, as we got a first look on the intricate process that involves in the production of every model/toy that comes out of the high-tech factory.
A total of 51 machines do the job with the assistance of the factory’s tireless workers. But what caught our eyes was the attention to detail on every aspect of the production.
The paint process, for example, is almost like what one might find in the production of actual cars.
Another interesting aspect of the production was the process in making the metal molds for the plastic body of the model. The finished product was very accurate down to last detail. But our hands-down favorite in the process was the section where assigned workers tested radio-controlled (RC) models on a track to look for flaws on the unit.
Meanwhile, the packaging process gave us another reason we should also take good care of the packaging of the model. As the pictures that you see in every box of Tamiya kit, are hand painted by artists in Japan.
The entire factory tour was tiresome, even made worst by the summer heat, but it was well worth it.
Although we didn’t get to buy anything from the factory liked we hoped we would, that didn’t dampen our spirits because we were the very first outsiders to visit their factory, and that was a privilege indeed.
Image credits: Patrick P. Tulfo